Garrett Williams puts his own stamp on Clemson-Florida State rivalry

After a couple dominating performances, there’s only 1 team that can threaten the Clemson Tigers football team before the College Football Playoff.
Scott Keepfer and Manie Robinson, The Greenville News

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – It wasn’t a “Puntrooskie,” but Garrett Williams earned his own place in Clemson vs. Florida State football lore Saturday.

Williams, a redshirt junior H-back/tight end, made the first carry of his career a memorable one, plunging in from the 2-yard line for his first career touchdown in No. 2 Clemson’s 59-10 victory against the Seminoles at Doak Campbell Stadium.

“I’ve been lobbying for that play since my freshman year,” Williams said. “I’ve been hounding coach (Jeff) Scott for four years straight about that play, so I’m so happy we were finally able to run it.”

The moment was particularly special for Williams, whose father, Dayne, played at Florida State and was the player who hid the ball between his legs on the famed “Puntrooskie” trick punt play that sparked the Seminoles to a 24-21 victory at Clemson in 1988.

Thirty years later, the younger Williams exacted some revenge, albeit in a more conventional manner.

“It was really special to be able to celebrate that with Garrett on the sideline,” Scott said. “That’s something we talked about when he was in the recruiting process. When he was in high school, we said, ‘Man, it would be pretty awesome if you could get a touchdown down there in Doak Campbell,’ and this was his last opportunity to do that.

“The situation had to be just right where the ball was for that play to be called, and it was and they executed. I think the offensive line did a great job driving off the ball.”

Williams said he wasn’t nervous when his number was called with 1:07 remaining in the first half and Clemson holding a 21-0 advantage.

“I didn’t have any butterflies,” he said. “It was in the second quarter, so we’d been playing for a while and all the butterflies were out.”

Now Williams wants more.

“I hope we can take those packages and build on them,” Williams said. “I think they’ll be useful to us down the road. I’m glad we were able to practice it and execute it well out here.”

Williams’ duties typically focus on blocking, so he said it was a welcome surprise when got the opportunity for the first rushing attempt of his career. He also was at least mildly surprised by the Tigers’ 49-point margin of victory after entering the game as a two-touchdown favorite.

“I was thinking in the third quarter, I’ve been to a lot of football games here and I don’t think I’ve ever seen 59 points scored here,” Williams said. “So just hats off to our team, man. We played with a lot of heart. Our guys really love playing football and it was a great thing to come out here and execute like that.”